this much in common, that a true genius
at either is fit for nothing else. The amateurs can take care of
themselves, but the born-masters display an amiable worthlessness for
every thing but their art. Now General Thompson was thoroughly
wide-awake and competent in all practical matters.

At Fort Delaware the prevailing topic of conversation was exchange; men
who were destined to many another weary month of imprisonment, sustained
themselves with the hope that it would soon come. At last a piece of
good fortune befell some of us. It was announced that General Jones, the
officer in command at Charleston, had placed fifty Federal officers in a
part of the city where they would be exposed to danger from the
batteries of the besiegers. An order was issued that fifty Confederate
officers, of corresponding rank, should be selected for retaliation.
Five general and forty-five field officers were accordingly chosen from
the different prisons, Fort Delaware furnishing a large delegation for
that purpose. The general officers selected were Major General Frank
Gardner, the gallant and skillful commander of Port Hudson;
Major-General Edward Johnson, one of the fighting Generals of the army
of Northern Virginia (which is to say one of the bravest of the very
brave), and a true man, whose sterling worth, intelligence and force of
character would win him respect and influence wherever those qualities
were valued; Brigadier-General Stewart, of the Maryland brigade, another
officer who had won promotion in that heroic army of Northern Virginia,
and had identified his name with its deathless fame. There was still
another of these fortunate men--fortunate in having helped to win fields
where Confederate soldiers had immortalized the title--Brigadier-General
Archer was the fourth general officer. A favorite officer of General
A.P. Hill, he was in every respect worthy of a hero's friendship and
confidence. The fifth was Brigadier-General M. Jeff. Thompson. Among the
field officers who went were seven of the penitentiary prisoners--Colonels
Ward, Morgan, and Tucker, Majors Webber, Steele, and Higley and myself.

We left our comrades with a regret, felt for their bad fortune, for we
felt assured that our apparent ill-luck would terminate in an exchange.
Colonel Coleman, who had been confined in the Fort with the party of
which so many were sent on this "expedition," was bitterly disappointed
at being left behind, and we regretted it equally a